Usually the films based on the dinner party associate with either family or the friends reunion and sometimes business related affair. But there's always a reason for such gathering like it might be a wedding, funeral, anniversary, a school reunion, getting a job or promotion, victory celebration et cetera. In this film, it was some long time friends meet which seems its their regular thing to do often. This tale covers one such fine evening to reveal what they actually do. A limited cast and one night event based film that cleverly and cautiously covers sensitive topics of the married life and trust of the friendship.

It has been almost a year since my last Italian film and now I'm happy for choosing this. I was not certain that I would like it till I saw it. So I would say same to you that see it first and then judge the product. This is really a good comedy-drama with a dark tone. We all adapted the modern way of life and gadgets makes so easy to accomplish things around us. In that, cell phones might come the first. Carrying it all the time became only next to wearing clothes, surely an artificial/digital sense of man. It also has some flaws, like it may land you in troubles as it's a part of AI, not human. I think it is easy to forecast a man's future by checking out his phone rather than his horoscope.

Seven friends, including three married couples and one single man gather for a dinner party. They have been doing it for a very long time and that's where they all can share each others current life affair. Having some laughs and serious discussions, it defines the strength of their relationship. Every occasions won't be the same, there's always a first time for everything. That's how the event comes crashing out.

While the party was going smooth, unexpectedly a game emerges that they all must place their phones on the table to prove they have no secrets from each other. Incoming and outgoing calls, texts, emails, everything must be heard by everyone at the table. What do you think would happen? Before saying anything, just place yourself in that position and do you think you can get away with a clean slate? Obviously tough to answer that, only practical observation would bring the result.

"He's seeing a therapist, not a whore! Come on!"

Every time when there's an alert for an incoming call or message, the atmosphere gets more tense and as a viewer I went blinkless. It is not about what people hid from others, it is the reaction in the room when their secret was exposed. This is when adults become teenagers who try to explain the stuff when their parents find out their secrets. And so the friends become complete strangers. Because friends must back each other in the bad times, but in this scenario, it was totally out of the proportion regarding their action. Okay, if we push away the friendship, then how's the married one should take it. Feels very simple, since everyone involved in something, it has turned out to be a complicated affair.

Like I said I've seen plenty of similar themed films, but this one was something unique in a simple way. There's a vast difference between what do you witness in the opening compared to how it concludes. A bad mouth can spoil a beautiful occasion, but now it is avoided since people learnt to shut their mouth. Just remember the film 'August: Osage County' and this film was no way close to it as a story, but developed to the next gen, the digital troubles the mankind had set to face. This film revealed how much a cell phone would cause trouble, then think what would happen with the robots of the tomorrow. Surely in 20-30 years from now, a similar film will be made with the bots.

At some point, I thought it might be the Italian version of the 'Coherence' for inclusion of lunar eclipse in the plot. I'm not going to say anything about that, you'll get it in your watch. There's no end twist, but it was an unexpected final scene. By then you will understand the meaning of the title. Awesome screenplay and well performed actors, this is one of the best films of the year so far. This is not a sci-fi or a thriller or a visual spectacular, but a smart little drama and I'm sensing that somebody might consider it for a remake. I know everyone won't like as much I did, but I won't end my review without recommending it. If you like talk movies, sure you does enjoy it.

8.5/10

PERFECT STRANGERS is the latest BEST FILM winner in David di Donatello Awards, surprisingly wallops the more forbidding opponents like Gianfranco Rosi's Golden Berlin Bear victor FIRE AT SEA (2016),Matteo Garrone's TALE OF TALES (2015) and Paolo Sorrentino's YOUTH (2015),considering its mini-scaled, play-like setting.

The story takes place in Rome, present day, altogether restricted in one evening, among seven tight-knitted friends, three couples and a recent divorcé during a dinner party hosted by Rocco (Giallini),a cosmetic surgeon and his much younger wife Eva (Smutniak),a headshrinker, in their bourgeois apartment, they have a 16-year-old daughter whose relationship with Eva is under strain. Other two couples are Lele (Mastandrea) and Carlotta (Foglietta),who have two young children, and the newly-wed Cosimo (Leo) and Bianca (Rohrwacher),the only single person is Peppe (Battiston),who doesn't bring his new girlfriend with him, which is to the discontent of the rest, since none of them have been met her yet, and there is always a reason behind.

What turns a standard dinner gathering among friends to an unforeseen disaster is a game proposed by Eva, all of them leave their phones on the table, whoever receives a phone-call, a message whether it is a text message or from WhatsApp, they must answer the call on speaker so everyone else can hear the conversation (without the caller's knowledge certainly),or show the received message to others, to prove that there are absolutely no dark secrets among themselves. Needless to say, that is an untruth, everybody has his or her own little or big secrets, yet if you have not in, the consequence is self-evident, especially for those espoused, so they can only pray that those secrets will not make contact that evening, which, also of course, is a wishful thinking. Plus, we are all subconsciously inclined to have a peek of other people's private affairs, and wallow in schadenfreude (if there will be any) from a safe place (e.g. as a viewer),and in director Paolo Genovese's competent hands, step by step, each of these seven adults will unwillingly lay bare their skeletons in the closet, from less startling issues of seeing a psychiatrist or in the schedule for a boob job, to more calamitous ones, which would inevitably terminate at least one marriage and sour a few friendships.

Compellingly tapping into the Mediterranean frame-of-mind with layers of revelations gingering up the plot, Genovese also brightly devices ballast for the next-level disclosure from their dangerous game, setting the scene on a lunar eclipse night, pragmatically offers some visual distraction and break from the heated tension sprung around the dinner table, in one particularly neat move, during a smoking break, a phone-swapping scheme has been introduced with ripple effects which would be far more intricate and amusing than one might have surmised.

Secrets, secrets, secrets, some are disclosed to all of them, some are cunningly revealed only to the eyes of spectators, in order not to spoil the fun, I am just saying that I'm fascinated to get a grasp of why in the first place, Eva suggests to play such a game? Is there a hidden agenda? Well, Genovese seems to intimate that there is, a masterstroke to lure viewers into multiple viewings!

A talented coterie of actors, the mainstays of current Italian cinema, implements a totally absorbing melodrama interspersed with top-shelf comedic flair and naturalistic theatrics. Giallini is sterling under his wise and prescient phlegm, Mastandrea is a wonderful specimen of emotional forbearance and Battiston comes strong in his out-of-blue discharges with resounding empathy, only Leo slumps into a stock and less interesting persona of a dyed-in-the-wool cheater; in the distaff side, Rohrwacher infuses a genuine innocence which will only subject her character Bianco into a more helpless corner once the plot thickens; Foglietta fleshes out an impression of a more forceful and intransigent loose cannon after Anna being hit by a (false) bolt out of the blue which pulverises all her beliefs; Smutniak, masks in her stunned ambiguity, makes us wonder is she safe from her secret at the end of that dreadful evening?

Or, maybe it has never happened! In the final legerdemain, Genovese leaves a double-edged finale in an unexpected turn, unveils what would happen if the game is vetoed on the spot, the status quo stays put, secrets remain intact, although some are too big to cover in the long run. Staring out as a mordant parody throwing shades at our over-reliance on today's digital technology and its omnipresent intrusion on our privacy under the claim of convenience, PERFECT STRANGERS, as its titular fittingly indicates, instead, examines a more essential truth about the permanent opaqueness in every and each one of us, the sheer indecipherability of a human soul, so, do you dare to play the game with your closest friends? Think it twice.

Quite difficult to believe that Paolo Genovese's Perfect Strangers is not inspired by a theater play. Everything happens within the closed limits of one apartment where seven friends meet for a casual dinner which turns into something completely different when they decide to play a 'Truth or Do' kind of game using their ... mobile phones. One immediately thinks to movies like Roman Polanski's Carnage , but that one was based on the play (and screenplay) of Yasmina Reza. It seems however in this case that the movie took precedence, but I am confident that the stage adaptations will follow quickly. So will the American remake, I am afraid.

What happens if all the calls, messaging, social networking content we believe to be confidential comes in the clear? This is the game the friends decide to play and the results will - as expected- be disastrous for most of the friendships and couple relationships. Is the film about the dangers of social networking and other forms of Internet communication? or maybe about the dangers of hiding and lying and trusting or not trusting your friends? One should see this film to decide. And ask yourself also if you are ready to play the game with your friends.

The film starts at a slow pace, and it took a while to catch me. When it did it was fantastic. It also contains a final twist in the script that I will not reveal. It's well acted and smartly written. I recommend it. There are good chances that you'll enjoy it.